Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to improve small and medium-sized enterprises’ access to redress and compensation from banks; and what assessment they have made of the recommendation by the BankingFutures initiative to expand the remit of the Financial Ombudsman to widen support for SMEs.

The Government will consider the issue of small and medium-sized enterprises’ access to redress and compensation from banks when the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) publishes its feedback statement on its discussion paper on SMEs as users of financial services. The remit of the Financial Ombudsman Service is a matter for the FCA.

In April, the FCA published feedback to the consultation on their Mission Statement. In this they committed to consult on widening the remit of the Financial Ombudsman Service. They will do so shortly, using a formal consultation alongside its feedback on its SME discussion paper.